From “Brink of Bankruptcy” to First PC Game: Indie Gaming CEO Aksel Junkkila Shares Story of ‘Battlestation: Harbinger’

Aksel Junkkila’s username on Reddit is IfeelLuckyTonight—but the Finnish indie game creator didn’t feel so fortunate five months ago when low sales of his new game put him on the “brink of bankruptcy.”

In September 2015, the CEO of indie game company Bugbyte Ltd. shared his story through a Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything).

“I’ve been in this business for close to 4 years now,” he wrote in his original post. “I’ve put my heart and soul into this, survived through panic attacks and constant disappointment … For the past two years [my brother and I] have been working on a game series called Battlestation and our second Kickstarter is about to fail once again.”

Instead of asking for money outright, Junkkila offered to answer questions from users interested in indie game development. In return, redditors offered constructive criticism on everything from the game’s app store description to its social media strategy—and best of all for Junkkila, the discussion brought enough attention to Battlestation to fully fund the team’s Kickstarter.

Five months later, Junkkila returned for another AMA—but this time, he returned to thank users and tell them how his luck changed since September.

“[My last] post soared to the front page,” he writes in the description. “I was contacted by CEOs … I was contacted by talented marketing professionals, even from the movie industry. They were Redditors, and they wanted to help. None of them asked anything in return, it was overwhelming. With their help we turned our business around, we are still here!”

In addition to expressing his gratitude for users’ support, Junkkila also updated redditors on the progress of Bugbyte’s latest endeavor: their very first PC game, Battlestation: Harbinger, “a hard sci-fi space exploration game blending roguelike, turn-based, star map strategy, and real-time space battles”—which the team released yesterday on Steam:

Those who remembered Junkkila’s September—and curious PC gamers encountering the Finnish developer’s story for the first time—had plenty of questions for the CEO about his story, the new game, and what’s next for Bugbyte.